Big Worm’s Sherwood Scare Home Haunt to Return for Halloween 2016

The season is off to a mixed-bag start, with the announcement of some really exciting new haunts, and at the same time, others that we really love fading away this year. Sadly, another home haunt – a phenomenon here in Los Angeles, honestly – Big Worm’s Sherwood Scare will not be making an appearance for the 2015 season.

What’s taken place with Sherwood Scare is honestly, very similar to what we wrote about a week ago regarding The House at Haunted Hill going on hiatus this year. Jacob Chase, the creator and lead creative force behind Sherwood Scare is an accomplished writer that is involved with the film industry here in Los Angeles. The good news is, he’s been made a potentially career-changing offer than he simply cannot pass up; the down-side is, it conflicts with putting on the haunt this season.

If a golden opportunity wasn’t enough, Sherwood Scare found itself in a perfect storm of circumstances that culminated in the show needing to be put on hold this year – one of Jacob’s key contributors is about to become a daddy, and wouldn’t have been able to help as needed; the home where this mind-blowing haunt has been built the past three years was not available for another go this year; neighbors in the area where Sherwood Scare existed were unhappy about the amount of traffic and people coming to their normally-quiet streets; and other options that Jacob looked into simply didn’t pan out. In the end, time ran out and despite exhaustive searching for the next step, nothing viable presented itself. And then the career opportunity came knocking – the writing was on the wall, and Jacob had to make the very difficult decision to put the haunt off this year.

“It definitely wasn’t what we anticipated,” explained Jacob Chase. “We’ve carefully looked at all of our options – and explored any and every avenue possible. The haunt has grown so quickly and with so much love and support from the community that the pressure was real to find a bigger, better venue to deliver an even more extraordinary show this year. I searched multiple cities and looked at tons of potential locations; none of them were right, and in the end, I simply decided that it’s better to put the haunt on hold for a season than to deliver something subpar to our friends and fans in the community; that just wasn’t something I wanted to do. The intent is to come back in 2016 bigger and better than ever – and to wow everyone with the best Sherwood Scare yet!”

I have spoken on and off with Jacob over the past several months. It’s been a really challenging journey, and I can attest that his struggle to find the haunt a new home has been very personal and frustrating. In all the years we’ve done Theme Park Adventure, Sherwood Scare stands out as a very unique home haunt because of its incredibly professional design and the lightning-fast popularity it’s gained in just a few short years. The Sherwood Scare story is an exciting one, and while it’s a real drag that the brakes have to be applied this year, I have no doubt that Jacob is already looking forward to next year, and will begin working on Halloween 2016 much sooner than later.

Jacob is drawn to the horror/suspense genre as a writer. That’s why his creative vision and depth of design for Sherwood Scare is so polished and good so early on in its evolution. We’ve attended the home haunt (which frankly, is just as good, if not better than some pro haunts) the past two years, and it’s become something we really look forward to each season as fans. I asked Jacob this week over lunch what happens if his writing career really takes off following this immediate opportunity. His answer was just what I hoped it would be: “The idea is to be successful enough so that the work and haunt go hand-in-hand and don’t conflict; that my work can easily support and benefit the haunt each year.”

There’s nothing more that needs to be said, except that we support Jacob and the rest of the Sherwood Scare team, and eagerly await the announcement that they’ve found a new home for Halloween 2016. I know the fan community feels the same way, and offers Jacob nothing but love and support in his career and will be there when Sherwood Scare opens its gates once again next year! Until then, be sure to follow Sherwood Scare on Facebook, and follow them on Twitter for updates to come, and to show them your love and support!

– Rick West

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